How do airlines decide who to bump off flights?

Answer 1

We at the airlines have procedures to follow when "bumping off" passengers, as dictated by our policies.

Denied boarding occurs when there are more passengers than there are seats available on a flight. It is not a guessing game of sorts, but there is a "hierarchy" of passengers, as we call it.

The first to go are the airline staff and their dependents and those that hold free or reduced fare tickets. Reduced fare tickets do not mean budget tickets that you get on the web, but rather travel privilege tickets given to airline staff and their families.

Within this category are sub-categories. The lowest is the N2 ticket used by other airline staff (those who do not work for the airline that they are taking) and their dependents who are traveling while not on duty. Next is the R2 category, which is comprised of the airline's own staff (whether local or foreign staff) and their dependents who are traveling while not on duty. Next is the S2 category, which is composed of staff who are traveling on duty. All these categories are subject to space availability; thus if the flight is full, these passengers should give up their seats. Of course, within these sub-categories are other mini sub-categories, like 100, 95, 90, 75, 50 and 25. The higher the number, the lower the priority because these passengers get the bigger discounts. Needless to say, 100 means totally free.

The next sub-category for airline staff tickets is the 1 category, i.e., N1, R1, S1. These passengers may hold confirmed reservations, but since they hold staff tickets, they can still be bumped off.

After these come the regular passengers. The check-in supervisor or the gate supervisor would generally ask for volunteers who would want to give up their seats in exchange for a denied boarding compensation (DBC). DBC's differ from airline to airline, but the usual "tokens" would either be cash, an upgrade on the next available flight, or a free ticket, or a combination of any two or all choices.

Now what happens if there are no volunteers? Then, the last passenger to check in gets bumped off. Last in, first out. Exempted from this rule are the frequent flyers of the airline or its alliance partners. No frequent flyer can ever be bumped off a flight. THAT IS A HARD AND FAST RULE!

Finally, there are some considerations of some airlines that are stated specifically in their passenger service manuals. For example, China Airlines, the flag carrier of Taiwan, will not and will never bump off or downgrade a Taiwan national or a Philippine national. The first is self-explanatory. China Airlines is owned by the people of Taiwan and it is a no-no to bump off your own citizens. They will look for someone else to exclude from a flight. They will also not bump off a national of the Philippines because their biggest lawsuit in their history of existence was filed by a Filipino who got bumped off and got a big bounty for a compensation that it nearly bankrupted the airline. Plus the airline was banned from flying to the Philippines for a period of time because of the discriminatory repercussions that it made.

Answer 2

If your talking about bumping people when a flight is oversold.
They first ask if anyone is willing to take a later flight and get "airline dollars" or some other type of perks. If no one is willing then they will start going with the people who checked in last to ones interlining from another airline. there are several ways and not each airline or flight will be the same as to how they will determine who gets bumped

Answer 3

If asking for volunteers does not work they mainly go by check in time. Also those who do not have pre-assigned seats are also more likely to get bumped. Different airlines have different criteria so there is not one answer. Just make sure if your flight looks particularly full that you get there early.

I have never heard of an airline looking for people traveling alone and doubt this is true b/c the airlines have no way of knowing who is traveling alone. Many people traveling together book separately. Also business travels who are the airlines bread and butter are most often the ones traveling alone.

Answer 4

They ask for volunteers first, and offer some incentives from a later flight and a discount voucher for the next flight, to room and board plus cash (if there is a long (24 hrs+) delay.
I once got 2 nights in Madrid, plus restaurant vouchers, plus a tour of the city and $500 for being bumped on a flight to Montevideo. Plus they upgraded me to business class.

If there are not enough volunteers, then they look for single travellers to bump.

Answer 5

Before they ask for volunteers, there is already a list of people without boarding passes. Cos if everyone has boarding passes, then there's no need for volunteers. So I assume you're asking how do they decide who gets on that list.
First, these are the people without seat assignments in their booking. If you buy a ticket, and they tell you to get seat assignment at the airport, you should worry. But if you get to the airport early, they may give you a seat, or not. Second, it's the people who got to the airport after everyone else has already checked in. These people's seats got assigned to other people who arrived on time.
If you check in online (say, 24 hours before departure), and print your boarding pass, then they won't take that boarding pass away from you at the gate. Problem is if the flight is very much oversold, then the online check-in may not give you a boarding pass to print.

Answer 6

they look at several categories -
they don't throw off people who fly a lot ( preferred customers)
i doubt if they ever bump people out of first class.


so i suspect they pick between
-who got on last
-who paid the least
-someone they don't expect to know how to work the system and complain to high heaven

one airline used to have a GREAT system -
they sort of did an auction - on the plane, where they offered increasing amounts of money or free flights to whoever would volunter to take the next plane. it was fair, it worked well, and people could decide.

Answer 7

They most always find a volunteer to be bumped.

Most airlines will offer a later flight, hotel accomidations, free meals and a free flight in the future,

For someone who volunteers to be bumped.

Answer 8

It's first come first serve unfortunately--if a flight the night before was cancelled due to weather they will fly those people out in the morning--say that takes up 20 seats on your flight--the last 20 people to arrive get bumped--sucks

Answer 9

No, that's not considered to be a "confirmed seat" because you were not confirmed before you went to the gate on a standby basis. The last boarded/ticketed is usually the first pulled when the airline has to take someone off. It's not a happy situation, but those are the consequences of flying standby.

Answer 10

If there are no volunteers it is usually the last person to sign up for the flight.